It took less than an hour last Friday for a Manhattan jury to acquit Atlanta Hawks forward Thabo Sefolosha of three ridiculous charges filed against him by the New York prosecutor.
The 6-foot, 6-inch Sefolosha was found not guilty of misdemeanor obstruction of justice, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. He allegedly did at least one of these things while New York police were breaking a bone in his leg in a scuffle in April outside a New York night club. Sefolosha was apparently not moving fast enough from an area that was near where another NBA player, Chris Copeland, had been stabbed earlier. He also had the nerve to try to give a homeless person a $20 bill when police pounced on him.
Sefolosha testified that he was ordered to move off the block on the order of “a vulgar and confrontational officer.” When he gave the homeless person the $20, he was taken to the ground and arrested.
Of course, the police had another version of the incident that ended Sefolosha’s season, and might keep him on the injured list for the beginning of the 2015-16 season.
Prosecutors said the player, who is black and hails from Switzerland, acted “entitled” as he left the nightclub and was told to move along. He allegedly locked his arms in front of himself to make it more difficult for him to be handcuffed while being arrested.
Remember, he ended up with a broken leg. The jury obviously did. Prosecutors had the nerve to offer Sefolosha a plea deal that he rejected. If he did one day of community service and stayed out of trouble for six months, the charges would have been dropped.
“I know what happened that night. I feel like the world now knows,” Sefolosha told reporters outside the courtroom.
Francesca Bortolomey, an assistant district attorney, said in her closing argument “the police don’t get to tell the defendant how to play basketball. The defendant doesn’t get to say where a crime scene ends.” Seriously? If that was the best the DA’s office could come up with, why did this case ever go to trial?
Sefolosha, who was with former teammate Pero Antic and several other people, admitted calling the rude 5-foot-7-inch police officer who first approached him a “midget.” One wonders what would have happened if he called him an idiot. Antic, who is white, was also arrested but charges were dropped.
Said Sefolosha’s attorney Alex Spiro: “They arrested him. They broke his leg out of eyeshot and earshot of an unrelated crime scene.”
All that seems to be missing from New York police and prosecutor testimony is the argument that this was an uppity N-word that deserved what he got. It’s probably obvious that the NYPD will once again be sued for its actions. Should the injury lead to a premature end of Sefolosha’s career, he could sue for tens of millions of dollars in lost wages.
And for those who are reading this and saying “this didn’t have anything to do with race. He should have just followed orders,” the color of Sefolosha’s skin apparently did play a role in the incident.
A surveillance video clearly shows the officer in question, who is white, walking past Antic and other white patrons and making a beeline to Sefolosha to confront him and tell him to move up the block.
Spiro said during the trial “the police officer saw a black man in a hoodie” and went directly after him.
Michele Roberts, NBA Players Association executive director, tweeted a response praising Sefolosha for fighting the charges and included “JUSTICE PREVAILS.”
ESPN’s Dan LeBatard correctly questioned this response on his radio show.
“I’m not sure that this is justice prevailing. Given that he was even charged. Given that his leg was broken. This is a diluted form of justice that is prevailing. That is so frustrating for black people,” LeBatard said.
“That the police would break his leg is frustrating. But the idea that you are more likely to end up in that courtroom with a broken leg and police have conflicting stories? And, if you are black, (if) you have to enter that courtroom you have to do so scared because so often the black person who is unarmed is being shot by the police and statistically police are not convicted of this behavior. Man, oh man how are we in a place where this is justice being served? (Sefolosha) having to go through any of this (is wrong); fighting charges that are wrong and the jury comes back 40 minutes later and tells (prosecutors) ‘get the hell out of here. The police are not credible on this.’
“He wasn’t guilty of anything. That’s really dispiriting. It seems clear that the police were lying. The jury came back with a verdict that the police were lying. I don’t know how you dispute (this) jury in a criminal justice system that has been subconsciously and consciously bias (against defendants in cases involving alleged police abuse) that just came back with the verdict that police were lying when it came to breaking a NBA player’s leg.”
Two weeks ago, The St. Louis American detailed a local case in which a jury acquitted Keyon Bennett, 20, of four felony charges based on testimony of a white police officer. According to the story “the jury did not believe that … Bennett pointed a gun at Officer James Zwilling before he fired one or possibly more shots at Bennett in the Greater Ville neighborhood. They did not believe Bennett was carrying a gun at all, as Zwilling testified.”
A juror told The American that 10 of 12 immediately didn’t believe that the police officer was not telling the truth. It did not take long for the other two to come to the same conclusion.
Was justice served for Bennett? Or did he literally and figuratively dodge a prison sentence and a bullet that could have killed him?
Another ESPN commentator, Bomani Jones, wondered on Thursday why Sefolosha’s trial was not generating more press coverage. The same is true of Bennett’s case in St. Louis. A jury – not protestors, Bennett’s family or Black Lives Matter supporters – came to the conclusion a police officer lied in court in a case that involved him shooting at a fleeing unarmed man.
The Post-Dispatch did not follow The American’s reporting – which had named sources on every side of the courtroom – nor did any other area news agency. Incredible.
Back in New York, the Civilian Complaint Review Board, the city’s independent agency that reviews alleged police misconduct, concluded last week that a plain clothes police officer used excessive force when he tackled retired tennis star James Blake in front of a hotel last month. The video of the arrest went viral within minutes of it first airing and after police realized that they had attacked the wrong man.
The board has recommended the most serious punishment for Officer James Frascatore, who is white, which could lead to suspension or dismissal. Frascatore has faced other allegations of excessive force. Like Sefolosho, Blake has not said if he will take legal action against the NYPD.
But as LeBatard said, “I don’t know if you give Sefolosha money that justice has truly been served.”
Alvin A. Reid is a panelist on KETC channel 9’s most-popular show “Donnybrook,” and is also a radio commentator and author.
